Decision on Gagne Appeal Is Delayed

Eric Gagne’s appeal of a two-game suspension stemming from a dispute with an umpire last season will not be heard by Major League Baseball this week, meaning he will be available opening day.

The delayed hearing is yet another factor figuring into the Dodger decision to begin the season with 11 pitchers. They trimmed the staff to 13 on Monday by sending left-handers Kelly Wunsch and Tim Hamulack and right-handers Jonathan Broxton and D.J. Houlton to triple-A Las Vegas.

Cutting Wunsch and Hamulack means the Dodgers will not carry a situational left-hander. The only left-handed reliever in camp is Hong-Chih Kuo, more suited for middle relief because his history of arm injuries makes the Dodgers reluctant to use him two or three days in a row.

Broxton, a power pitcher and top prospect, will be the closer at Las Vegas. He will pitch more than one inning on occasion to prepare for a middle-relief role with the Dodgers. Houlton, who was 6-9 with a 5.16 earned-run average as a rookie last season, will be the No. 2 starter in the Las Vegas rotation behind Chad Billingsley.

Non-roster invitees Aaron Sele and Brian Meadows have an outside chance to make the team, although there is no way both would. Sele has been a starter throughout his 13-year career and has pitched reasonably well this spring, posting a 4.32 ERA in 16 2/3 innings. Meadows, an eight-year veteran, has a 9.58 ERA in 10 1/3 innings.

Kuo and right-handed reliever Franquelis Osoria both will make the team if Sele and Meadows don’t.

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Wunsch has had shoulder soreness for about a week, which might have been a factor in his getting cut. He will meet with trainers and perhaps a doctor today to discuss whether to stop throwing until the triple-A season begins April 6.

“He’ll get treatment for that,” said Joe Sambito, his agent. “I would guess he needs ample time to give his arm a rest and be ready to go.”

Left-handers batted .194 against Wunsch before he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in July. Manager Grady Little is aware of his value but wants him to be 100%.

“We are talking about the way we start the season,” he said. “Kelly Wunsch has a history of being awfully good against left-handed hitters. We know what he is capable of and this is not the last time we will see him.”

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Eight-year veteran Brett Tomko has never homered in a regular-season game, but he belted one in an 11-3 victory over the New York Mets, a three-run shot off Steve Trachsel.

Tomko, signed as a relatively inexpensive alternative to Jeff Weaver, is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in a team-high 25 innings this spring. He has given up 19 hits, struck out 17 and walked four.

Two players the Dodgers are counting on for production off the bench -- Jason Repko and Olmedo Saenz -- combined to go seven for seven.

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Catcher Mike Nixon, a former third-round pick who advanced to triple A last year, has quit to be a walk-on for the Arizona State football team. Nixon, 22, turned down football scholarships to sign with the Dodgers in 2002. Although he was a quarterback in high school, he is trying out as a safety.